Matt Jabs at debtfreeadventure.com wrote and interesting post about spending journals.
I love that he is trying to reign in discretionary spending, however I believe that the cash envelope system is a far better way to do that.
A spending journal is reactive. Cash envelopes are proactive.
With cash envelopes I don’t have to record every purchase and I get to allocate my money when I am doing my budget each month. It’s the difference between making a grocery list and eating before you go to the grocery store Vs going to the grocery store when you are hungry without a list.
Since I know the purpose of each envelope I don’t care where I spent the money so long as I don’t spend the grocery money on beer. However, beer can be bought from the miscellaneous, restaurant or entertainment envelopes.
